The present inventive concepts relate to semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating the same and, more particularly, to three-dimensional semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating the same.
Three-dimensional integrated circuit (3D-IC) semiconductor technologies have been proposed to increase a memory capacity of semiconductor memory devices. 3D-IC technologies may refer to techniques that relate to fabrication processes and design schemes for three dimensionally arraying a plurality of memory cells. The memory capacity may also be increased using other technologies, for example, a technology for forming fine and small patterns or a technology for realizing multi-level cells.
Recently, a punch-and-plug technology has been introduced as one of the 3D-IC technologies. The punch-and-plug technology includes a process step of sequentially forming a plurality of material layers on a substrate and a step of forming plugs that penetrate the plurality of material layers. This punch-and-plug technology may be attractive to the semiconductor industry since the memory capacity can be improved without a substantial increase in fabrication costs.